AP-National

By LLAZAR SEMINI Associated Press TIRANA, Albania (AP) — The leaders of five Western Balkan countries met Thursday in an effort to push ahead a European Union plan that promises financial aid and a faster road to membership in return for economic reform. Brussels’ plan calls for 6 billion euros to be sent to the

COPENHAGEN, Denmark (AP) — A freight train has hit and killed three people at a railway crossing at a station in central Sweden after they got off another train. Police say the victims crossed the tracks without seeing the freight train approaching. The crossing only has lights to warn of oncoming trains. In 2017, a

By BABACAR DIONE Associated Press DAKAR, Senegal (AP) — Officials in Senegal say at least two dozen people have died off Senegal’s northern coast and many others were injured when a boat carrying migrants capsized. The boat was bound for Europe and capsized Wednesday near the town of Saint-Louis, where bodies washed up on shore.

By BASSEM MROUE Associated Press BEIRUT (AP) — Human Rights Watch says Turkey bears responsibility for some of the abuses and possible war crimes committed in Syria, mostly against Kurdish residents in northern Syria. The New York-based watchdog said on Thursday that the abuses were committed by Turkish forces and also armed factions backed by

BERLIN (AP) — Authorities say a grenade and other weapons have been found in searches of the Berlin apartment where a suspected former member of the left-wing militant Red Army Faction group was arrested this week after more than three decades in hiding. Daniela Klette was arrested on Monday. She is accused of participating in

By JILL LAWLESS Associated Press LONDON (AP) — Prime Minister Rishi Sunak says Britain is descending into “mob rule” because of the pressures created by protests against the Israel-Hamas war. His words were criticized as alarmist by a human rights group. Sunak told a meeting of police leaders that “increasingly violent and intimidatory behavior” is intended

By DAVID KEYTON Associated Press STOCKHOLM (AP) — Legendary pop icon Cyndi Lauper, who rose to fame in the 1980s with hits such as “Time After Time” and “Girls Just Want To Have Fun,” has entered a partnership with the Swedish masterminds behind the immersive virtual concert ABBA Voyage. The partnership announced Thursday by the

By DAVID KOENIG AP Airlines Writer The Biden administration is announcing proposed new rules that officials say will help passengers with disabilities. The Transportation Department is proposing Thursday that it is proposing to make it easier for the government to fine airlines for damaging or misplacing wheelchairs. The department is also proposing that airlines provide

By KELVIN CHAN AP Business Writer LONDON (AP) — You were walking next to a swimming pool when you slipped and dropped your phone into the water. Or it slipped out of your hand when you were next to a filled bathtub or toilet. However your smartphone got wet, you now need to dry it.

By BASSEM MROUE Associated Press BEIRUT (AP) — Austria’s foreign minister has urged Israel and Lebanon’s militant Hezbollah group against escalating the conflict along the volatile Israel-Lebanon border. Foreign Minister Alexander Schallenberg also said Thursday that he hopes for a pause in the fighting in Gaza in time for the start of the Muslim holy

By VLADIMIR ISACHENKOV Associated Press MOSCOW (AP) — Russian President Vladimir Putin vowed Thursday to fulfill Moscow’s goals in Ukraine and sternly warned the West against deeper involvement in the fighting, saying that such a move is fraught with the risk of a global nuclear conflict. Putin’s blunt warning came in a state-of-the-nation address ahead

By WAFAA SHURAFA, KAREEM CHEHAYEB and MELANIE LIDMAN Associated Press RAFAH, Gaza Strip (AP) — Israeli troops fired on a crowd of Palestinians racing to pull food off an aid convoy in Gaza City on Thursday, witnesses said. More than 100 people were killed in the chaos, bringing the death toll since the start of

By ROD McGUIRK Associated Press MELBOURNE, Australia (AP) — A Filipino immigrant who helped a small Outback town keep its volunteer fire brigade was celebrated in the Australian Parliament on Thursday during a special sitting to welcome Philippine President Ferdinand Marcos Jr., who is on a state visit. Prime Minister Anthony Albanese praised Samson Bocul

MOSCOW (AP) — A Russian rocket has successfully put an Iranian satellite into orbit, a launch that underlines increasingly close cooperation between Moscow and Tehran. Russia’s state-run Roscosmos corporation said that a Soyuz rocket blasted off Thursday from the Vostochny launch facility in the country’s far east to carry the Iranian satellite and 18 Russian

COPENHAGEN, Denmark (AP) — A helicopter flying between an offshore oil platform and mainland Norway has crashed into the North Sea, killing one person and injuring five others, two of them seriously. The Sikorsky S-92 helicopter was on a training mission for state-owned oil and gas company Equinor ASA when it went down late Wednesday

By STEPHEN WADE AP Sports Writer TOKYO (AP) — Baseball star Shohei Ohtani has stunningly revealed he’s married. Ohtani wrote on Thursday on Instagram in Japanese: “The season is approaching but I would like to announce to everyone that I have gotten married.” He said his new wife was a “Japanese woman” without identifying her.

ORLANDO, Fla. (AP) — Police in Orlando, Florida, say at least one person is dead and several others were injured following a shooting. WFTV reports that about 11 p.m. Wednesday officers from the Orlando Police Department responded in reference to shots fired. Officers found multiple victims, including one who died. Police say they are working

By MEGAN JANETSKY and GABRIELA SELSER Associated Press MEXICO CITY (AP) — A panel of U.N.-backed human rights experts has accused Nicaragua’s government of committing “serious systematic human rights violations, tantamount to crimes against humanity.” That’s according to findings released Thursday from an investigation into the country’s expanding crackdown on political dissent. The government of

By MUNIR AHMED Associated Press ISLAMABAD (AP) — Pakistan’s National Assembly swore in newly elected members on Thursday in a chaotic scene, as allies of jailed former Premier Imran Khan protested what they claim was a rigged election. Lawmakers from Khan’s Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf party repeatedly chanted “Vote-thief!” as Shehbaz Sharif, who’s expected to form the

By ZIMO ZHONG Associated Press HONG KONG (AP) — Asian stocks gained Friday, after U.S. stocks climbed to all-time highs Thursday. U.S. futures edged higher and oil prices advanced. Tokyo’s Nikkei 225 rose 1.7% to 39,850.00. Japan’s unemployment rate dropped to 2.4% in January, from a revised 2.5% recorded in the previous month, while the